Commerce Dept calls for steep tariffs or quotas on steel, aluminum

An employee beside a blast furnace cast house at ThyssenKrupp AG’s steel plant in Duisburg, Germany.

Among the recommendations within the reports are a global tariff of 24 percent on all steel imports.

An alternative option would likely target 12 countries, including China as well as Brazil, who export the most cheap steal to the U.S. Those countries would likely be charged fresh tariffs of 53 percent or higher. In that will scenario, countries not listed within the list would likely see US imports capped at the amount they imported in 2017.

A third option would likely institute a quota on steel imports via all countries, up to 63 percent of what those countries imported in 2017.

The aluminum recommendations include a 7.7 percent tariff on imports via all exporter nations. Ross separately suggested a 23.5 percent tariff on aluminum products via China, Hong Kong, Russia, Venezuela as well as Vietnam, which has a cap for all countries at 2017 import levels.

An aluminum import quota on all countries of 86.7 percent of their 2017 imports was also an option detailed within the report.

Trump could determine that will specific countries should be exempted via the proposed quota, based on the economic or security interests of the United States. The president could also consider the countries’ willingness to work with the United States to address global excess capacity as well as various other challenges facing the U.S. aluminum as well as steel industries.

Companies can also seek appeals based on U.S. production of steel as well as aluminum as well as specific national security-based considerations.

Ross said each of the measures should enable U.S. steel producers to operate at 80 percent average capacity utilization rates or better based on available capacity in 2017.

According to the Aluminum Association, there are 5 U.S. smelting facilities that will are operating with three partial curtailments. that will is usually a fraction compared with the 24 operational smelters up as well as running in 2001.